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POVERTY. 



PRICE, 25 CENTS. 



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The New Republic. 



A SCHEME TO ABOLISH 
POVERTY. 



THE ANTI-POVERTY SOCIETY ON THE 
AMERICAN PLAN. 



** 



SOCIAL DEMOCRACY. 



Copyrighted 18$ . 

Published by the new Era publishing Co., 
15 vandewater street, new york. 






Part II. 
THE BROTHERHOOD OF MAN, 

or, 
The Brotherhood of Common Sense. 



Address, 

C. CONSTANTINE McKEEVER, 

NATIONAL SECRETARY, 

1 East 125th Street, Harlem, 

NEW YORK CITY, N. Y., U.S.A. 



-O- 



AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE. 
o 

ALL EIGHTS RESERVED. 



"A Scheme to Abolish Poverty" will be copy 
righted in every civilized country on the globe. 




PREFACE. 

J HE Author is not a Socialist, nor 
the son of one, or in any way re- 
lated to one, and to him Social- 
ism is unknown except what he has 
gleaned occasionally from the press ; but 
if Socialism covers everything of a reform 
nature, and every thinker that writes in a 
reform sense, then the Author will be the 
American Socialist as a counter distinc- 
tion from the German, Russian, etc., or 
otherwise he is without a title. 

He is simply an American citizen who is 
compelled, like others, to see daily the dis- 
tress among the masses, and to recognize 
the unequal struggle for life everywhere. 

His object is to bring about a better 
system, wherein man will be more equal 
and free. 

The scheme, in itself, will bring to- 
gether many, whose united brains will 
help to prove that even great revolutions 
are possible without bloodshed, and, as a 
body, eventually round off and finish the 

wor * The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



Article. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 

VII, 

VIII. 

IX. 

X, 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 

XXII. 

XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 

XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXIL 





Page. 


—Introduction 


. 3 


— Organization . 


5 


— The Duties of Councils 


. 6 


— Territory of Councils 


7 


—The Work of National Councils . 


. 8 


— Division of Nations . 


9 


— Directors of the Order . 


. 10 


— Stores, Commissions and Expenses 


10 


— The State Councils' Aim 


. 11 


— The National Council's Aim 


12 


— How the Money is Kaised 


. 13 


— When the W T ork will Begin 


15 


—The Start 


. 17 


— Forming Councils . 


20 


— Store Opening .... 


. 25 


— Comparisons . 


30 


— Taxes and Bonds .... 


. 31 


— Lodge Rooms .... 


. 35 


— Specialties and Profits . 


. 35 


—The Present System a Shell 


. 36 


— No Comparisons .... 


. 38 


— New Councils . 


39 


— Wages, Dues, Citizenship, etc. 


. 41 


— Lodges and Conventions . 


. 42 


— Farm and Factory Lodges . 


. 44 


— Co-operatiOn .... 


45 


— Labor and Wages .... 


. 48 


— Waste ..... 


. 49 


— Drones and Vagrants . 


. 51 


— Labor in the New Life 


. 51 


— Organize 


. 53 


— The Quick Annihilator . • 


56 



THE NEW REPUBLIC. 

A Scheme to Abolish Poverty. 



AKTICLE I. 
Introduction, 

Our plan is a scheme to abolish poverty 
from the state, nation and the world. 

The plan is to begin at home and make 
ourselves independent, and then spread and 
undermine as we advance until the work is 
done. 

It is simply a scheme, and for that reason 
we do not organize as a political body, as 
such associations are known, although we 
will take a hand occasionally in shaping 
legislation in order to protect our interests. 

Our love of country forbids us from doing 
anything that would injure the nation, and 
we propose to destroy nothing except 
wrongs, and destroy them in such a way 



A SCHEME 



that no injury can follow to any one, except 
the loss of a right to injure another. 

We will put our scheme in operation 
through an organization like the Masons, 
Odd Fellows, and other associations, and if 
successful the world will drop in, in its 
proper order, and without confusion to man, 
state or nation. 

We recognize sudden revolutions as dan- 
gerous, and propose to take no chances, but 
succeed on our merits or fail, as the case 
may be. Our model, if any, will be the 
American revolution of 76, when action fol- 
lowed the almost unanimous approval of the 
people; and now, like then, intelligence 
must stamp with its approval all successful 
revolutions in behalf of man. 

We call the scheme The Anti-Poverty So- 
ciety on the American Plan, because we 
stand on our bottom, with all that it implies. 

We are Social Democrats or Social Re- 
publicans, as tue case may be, because we 
will dwell together as brothers, and share 
and share alike in all wealth made, or to be 
made, as an organization. 

The Society to be a republic, and to be 
worked on the same general outline that 
now constitutes the present great republic, 
the United States of America, The new re- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 5 

public will take in the whole machinery of 
the greater republic in the way of constitu- 
tions, by-laws,, etc., of the nation, states, 
cities, etc. 

AETICLE II. 

Organization, 

We organize in or by lodges. 

The lodges, when a sufficient number are 
organized, will be divided into wards, dis- 
tricts, etc., the same as the country is now 
divided. 

When ready, city councils will be formed 
from members elected by the lodges in the 
different cities where they are to be estab- 
lished. 

When ready, county councils will be formed 
from members elected by the lodges in the 
different counties where they are to be es- 
tablished. 

When ready, state councils will be formed 
from members elected from all the lodges 
within their respective states. 

When ready, a national council will be 
formed from members elected by all the 
lodges within a nation. 

When ready, a world's council will be 
formed from members elected by all the na- 



6 A SCHEME 

tional councils, or by all lodges the world 
over. 

The lodges to be their own. judges when 
to organize councils. 



i D t 



ARTICLE III. 

The Duties of Councils. 

The city and county councils will, with 
their other duties, be the retail agents of 
the Order ; and all wealth made, except what 
is due the state council, will belong to the 
city or county council that makes it, or to 
the lodges they represent ; and their wealth 
will be ever at their disposal to do with it 
as to them may seem fit and proper. 

The state council will, with their other 
duties, represent the middle man, or whole- 
sale agent, when an agent is required. 

The national council will, with their other 
duties, be a manufacturer ; but always in a 
national or world sense. 

The national council to manufacture ex- 
clusively for the Order, and sell at cost to 
each and all city and county councils; the 
city and county councils to receive the 
profits. 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. I 

ARTICLE IV. 

Territory of Councils. 

A city council will cover and control every- 
thing connected with the Order in their re- 
spective cities, 

A county council will cover and control 
everything connected with the Order in their 
respective counties, and will act and be 
treated the same as a city council ; but their 
jurisdiction will not cover cities or towns, or 
enterprises of other councils that are located 
in their county, except such cities and towns 
that have no councils ; in that case they will 
cover them, but will withdraw from each as 
soon as a council is formed. The state coun- 
cil to settle all disputes, if any arise. 

A state council will cover and control 
everything connected with the order within 
their respective states. 

The first national council in America will 
cover the western hemisphere ; and if it is 
the first of all, it will cover the earth. 

The first national council in Europe will 
cover the eastern hemisphere; and if it is 
the first of all, it will cover the earth. 

The first national council in Asia will cover 
Asia. 



8 



A SCHEME 



The first national council in Africa will 
cover Africa. 

The first national council in Australia will 
cover Australia ; and each in their order will 
stay covered until others are formed, and 
continue until each nation or separate sec- 
tion has its own national council. 

A national council may cover two or more 
nations, provided the lodges and councils in- 
terested agree to it; and if so agreed and 
acted upon, they will be free at any time to 
withdraw and form a national council of 
their own, and upon their withdrawal may 
take out, without interest, all the money 
they put into it ; but it must be withdrawn 
to the mutual interest of all concerned — 
that is, by installment, or otherwise — and all 
losses and expenses incurred, if any, to be 
first deducted. 

No single nation can form another inde- 
pendent national council, except a country 
like Canada, separated by a natural barrier 
from the rest of the nation. 

ARTICLE V, 

The Work of National Councils. 

Each national council will work as it sees- 
fit : but all are expected to work in a large 



TO ABOAJSH POVERTY, 9 

national or world sense, and each to follow 
about the same line of action, if climate, lo- 
cation, etc., will permit; and if any disputes 
should arise between different national coun- 
cils they can be settled by commissioners 
appointed by each, and the same plan can be 
continued until a world's council is formed 
to act for all. 

The enterprise is too vast to anticipate 
disputes, and its very immensity is likely to 
prevent any. If different national councils 
followed the same industry, no harm could 
possibly ensue, as the city and county coun- 
cils of each, as retailers, are a positive bar- 
rier against all opposition from outside na- 
tions. 

ARTICLE VI. 

Division of Nations. 

The United States is nicely arranged for 
our plan, divided as it is in states and coun- 
ties, which enables us to cover every inch 
of ground within the nation ; but no doubt 
all countries are divided alike, or nearly so, 
differing only in name, and if so, all can be 
worked the same ; if not, the councils inter- 
ested will arrange a plan. 



10 



A SCHEME 



AKTICLE VII. 

Directors of the Order. 

The directors of the Order will be the 
the same as now exists in the United States : 
president, governors, mayors, etc, and the 
mam work will continue as now by the 
councils. 

ARTICLE VIII. 

Stores, Co?n?nissions and Expenses. 

The city and county councils, when ready, 
will open stores in the order of their organ- 
ization—the first organized to be the first 
served, and so on to the end. But if no 
rivalry exists, the national council will give 
that city or county council the preference 
which is, in their judgment, in the most 
thriving section for quick trade and profits. 

The national council will pay all expenses 
of each store for a specified period— say 
three or six months — the money advanced 
to be considered a loan, and all goods from 
the national council to be " on sale " or sub- 
ject to return if not sold. 

The state councils will stand as the mid- 
dle man or agent between the national coun- 
cil and the city and county councils within 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 11 

their respective states, and may collect a 
small commission from the city and county 
councils on goods sold, that are received 
from the national council. 

The commission to be from one to five 
per cent., or enough to cover all expenses 
which said work will entail upon the state 
council. 

The national council will have but one 
agent in each state, and that agent will be 
the state council, for outside of other ad- 
vantages, it will save the national council 
the extra large expense now forced on all 
other manufacturers, and as stores multiply 
the commission paid to a state council by 
the city and county councils will perhaps 
drop to one per cent. 

The city and county councils, with in- 
creased wealth, will extend their respective 
stores until they become mammoth estab- 
lishments covering everything saleable under 
one or more roofs, 

ARTICLE IX, 

The State Councils' Aim. 

The state councils will also enter the field 
for manufacture and wealth making, and en- 
gage in any other enterprise that may, in 



12 A SCHEME 

their judgment, seem fit and profitable ; but 
the aim will be in a large state sense. 

The field is too vast to draw a line, and 
even if councils do conflict, which is not 
likely to occur, no harm can come from it 
so long as they follow the rule : All for the 
Order and its prosperity. Business rivalry 
among the different councils, so long as it 
is profitable, will be invigorating and health- 
ful, adding to oar capital and at the same 
time gathering up the unemployed as fast 
as the present system drops them. 

Goods manufactured by a state council 
to be sold at a small profit to all of their 
city and county councils, 

ARTICLE X. 

The National Council's Aim. 

The national council, on account of its 
position, must strive in a national or world's 
sense to monopolize great industries, and 
must continue on the cost plan until they 
are masters of the field. In time they can 
strike a dozen industries ; but they must be 
sure they have the first before they can di- 
vert their surplus funds to other enterprises. 

When successful in monopolizing any par- 
ticular industry, cost ceases and profits be- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 13 

gin, and the next industry and all other 
industries started by the national council 
will continue on the cost plan, and profits 
will begin on each as soon as it is monopo- 
lized; and as long as the present system 
stands the national council can make the 
profits, when that point is reached, anything 
they please, consistent with the good wishes 
of the lower councils. 

AETICLE XL 

How the Money is Raised to Make the 
Scheme a Success* 

The scheme is startling because we know 
how easily the money can be raised to make 
it a success, and that is to prove that the 
despised penny, the poor man's coin, can 
meet all expenses and lay the foundation of 
an order that will eventually grow up to 
control and own the entire wealth of the 
world. 

The cost is one cent per day, or seven 
cents per week to each member for manu- 
facturing purposes, and three cents extra 
per week for lodge expenses — a total outlay 
of ten cents per week for each and every 
member of the order. 



14 A SCHEME 

The one cent per day, or seven cents per 
week, is held by a lodge until a national 
committee or council is formed, and a na- 
tional committee or council will not be 
formed until the funds held by the different 
lodges are sufficient to enable a national 
council to begin the work, and that is to 
manufacture for the Order, 

It is plain that one cent per day from a 
few members can accomplish nothing; but 
when the Order grows and contains, say, 
one hundred thousand (100,000) members, 
the pennies begin to show their strength and 
power for the good of man. One hundred 
thousand (100,000) members at one cent 
each per day makes the snug sum or income 
of seven thousand dollars ($7,000) weekly, 
and if paid every week it makes three hun- 
dred and sixty-four thousand dollars ($364, 
000) yearly. At the end of the second year 
it would be seven hundred and twenty-eight 
thousand dollars ($728,000), and the third 
year would swell the amount to one million 
and ninety-two thousaLd dollars ($1,092,000), 
with additional sums from new members to 
still further increase the grand total. 

The United States are composed of forty- 
four (44) states, and if each state furnished one 
hundred thousand (100,000) members the Or- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 15 

der would have a magnificent total of four mill- 
ion four hundred thousand (4,400,000) mem- 
bers, and if each paid one cent per day, or 
seven cents per week, the Order would have 
for manufacturing purposes the grand in- 
come of three hundred and eight thousand 
dollars ($308,000) weekly, or sixteen million 
and sixteen thousand dollars ($16,016,000) 
yearly; in six years, one hundred million 
dollars ($100,000,000), 

^ A city like New York ought to furnish at 
least two hundred thousand (200,000) mem- 
bers, and if we calculate on that number 
from cities alone, in proportion to popula- 
tion, the Order would be, in truth, a gigantic 
institution, and its wealth in a few years 
would be beyond the wildest dreams of man. 
All territories to be recognized by the Or- 
der as states. 

AKTICLE XII, 

When the Work will Begin. 

When assured by a large income, the Or- 
der can afford to begin work, and that time 
will be as soon as they have in hand one 
hundred thousand dollars ($100,000), and 
with that sum manufacture at least enough 
of goods to keep one or more stores busy. 



16 A SCHEME 

It is not necessary to buy or build a 
factory — that will come later — but rent 
one ; the sum to start with will be ample, 
and then enlarge as additional sums are re- 
ceived. 

When the goods are ready, the city or 
county council that is entitled to open the 
first store will be notified; and when the 
store is engaged, the national committee or 
council will forward the amount to pay rent 
and all other expenses, and ship the goods 
necessary to stock the store. In selecting a 
store, location and not price ought to be 
considered. It may cost five thousand dol- 
lars ($5,000) to establish the first store; 
but if a success, it would be cheap at ten thou- 
sand ; and still one or two thousand dollars 
may be ample, and it may even dwindle 
down to a few hundred, for the reason that 
all goods will be " on sale," and the profits 
may suffice to run the business after a few 
weeks. Still, we prefer to make ample al- 
lowance for errors and blunders of new be- 
ginners. The average expense of store 
opening we place at one thousand dollars 
($1,000), so that one year's income from one 
hundred thousand (100,000) members would 
open three hundred and sixty-four (364) 
stores, and, if necessary, that sum could be 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 17 

set aside for store opening purposes every 
fifth year. 

The money advanced for store opening to 
be returned when business justifies doing 
so, say within one or two years. 

All the Order's stores will, at the start, be 
of one class of goods, say shoes, or the first 
article manufactured by the national council. 

AKTICLE XIII. 

The Start. 

Until we are ready to accept the constitu- 
tion, by-laws, etc., in their entirety, of the 
present great republic, we must necessarily 
turn down a part, and perhaps add to assist 
beginners, or do as they did in '76, or the 
first years of the present republic — outline 
the work and let the councils formed later 
finish it. 

If all the states were enrolled in the Or- 
der with one hundred thousand (100,000) 
members each we could go ahead on a large 
scale, and the expense of even a large na- 
tional council would be a small matter ; but 
as we cannot so start, we must plan for be- 
ginners, and, therefore, the first move will 
be by committee, to be known as the na- 
tional committee or council, and four officers 



18 



A SCHEME 



The officers to be a president, vice-president, 
secretary and treasurer. 

The national committee or council to be 
composed of one member from each state ; 
but if only one state is in the Order, when a 
council is formed, nine other states may be 
represented by proxies, as first proxy, sec- 
ond proxy, etc. ; and as other states enter 
the proxies to be retired in their order as 
named. If two states each will send one 
member, and four other members as proxies 
in the same manner, as first, second, and so 
on, until ten states are entered ; and if odd 
proxies, the state or states that were first 
ready to form a council to have them ; and 
when ten states are enrolled, each to be 
represented by one member, and thereafter 
one for each new state until all the states 
are represented. 

The president, vice-president and mem- 
bers of the national committee or council to 
be elected, and the secretary and treasurer 
to be appointed by the president, with the 
approval of the committee or council. 

-The jDresident, secretary and treasurer to 
receive a yearly salary, and the vice-presi- 
dent and members of the national committee 
or council to be paid fo* actual working- 
days, or while in session. 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 19 

The president to receive three thousand 
dollars, secretary one thousand, and treas- 
urer two thousand per year ; the vice-presi- 
dent four dollars, and each member of the 
committee or council two dollars per day. 
The vice-president to be permanent chair- 
man of the committee or council. The offi- 
cers to serve two years each, and the mem- 
bers of the committee or council one year. 
Each state in the Order to have one elec- 
toral vote in electing the president and vice- 
president. No state to have representation 
until it has at least one hundred members 
in good standing. 

All work of the national committee or 
council, when in session, to be transacted 
inside of twenty working days, and the com- 
mittee or council to have but one session 
per year unless, in the judgment of the 
president, an extra session is necessary. 

The president, as in the present system, 
will enforce all laws, rules, etc., pertaining 
to the nation within the Order. 

When the wealth of the Order will justify 
it, the pay of the officers and members of 
the council may be increased. , 

There will be but one national council, 
composed of one member from each state, 
and not two national councils, as in the pre- 
sent system. 



20 A SCHEME 

The president's veto will answer for a sec- 
ond body of representatives, and short terms 
for each will, we hope, prove sufficient for 
all purposes, until the new republic is es- 
tablished. 

The national factories, when started, to 
have one manager to each, and as many 
mechanics and such other help as can be 
profitably employed, and no more ; and all 
help to be paid when service is rendered, 

ARTICLE XIY. 

Forming Councils. 

In all lodges of the different societies or 
associations, as they at present exist, com- 
mittees are appointed almost without limit, 
and in many cases they do laborious, thor- 
ough and effective work, and it is rare that, 
any of them are paid for it. It is the same 
with political clubs, church circles, debating 
societies, etc. It is voluntary work, and 
often more thorough and effective than paid 
work, It is free, but customary in a lodge 
sense, and is not to be classed as free work 
in a trade sense, and no doubt such work 
will be done for our Order, as such work is 
done by members of other orders, and per- 
haps not one of the great number of orders 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 21 

and societies now in existence, and some 
numbering tens of thousands and hundreds 
of thousands of members, have in the re- 
motest sense the aim for the welfare of the 
human race as we have, or the chance to 
improve their own individual condition as 
we offer each and every member of our Or- 
der. The work and aim of many, even of 
the present large and long-established or- 
ders, are, in comparison, frivolous; and if 
committee work for them is well done, we 
expect our committee work to be perfect. 

The committee work of our lodges, among 
other things, will be the formation of city, 
town, county and state governments. It 
will be free lodge committee work, and will 
remain free until wealth earned will justify 
compensation in proportion to valuable ser- 
vice rendered, or to be rendered, to the Or- 
der within a state, county, town or city. 

At the start, the officers of a city, town 
or county government will be a mayor of 
a city, town or county chief, and a secre- 
tary and a treasurer, and such other officers 
as may be needed, and a council. 

The city, town or county council to be 
composed of one member from each lodge ; 
but if only a few lodges, each will elect 
three additional members, to be called prox- 



22 



A SCHEME 



ies, as first proxy, second, etc. ; and when 
other lodges are organized, one or more of 
the proxies to be retired in order to equalize 
the representation of each lodge ; and if any 
odd numbers in proxies, the oldest lodges to 
have them. 

If there is but one lodge in a city, town 
or county, and a council is desired, the 
lodge may simply adjourn as a lodge and 
re-form as a council. If there are two or 
three lodges in a city, town or county, and 
a council is desired, and all are small lodges, 
they can, if convenient, meet in one lodge 
room, and as a whole form a council, to be 
known as a temporary city, town or county 
council, with temporary officers, etc. 

The officers and members of a regular 
city, town or county council to serve one 
year. 

When the Order is sufficiently established, 
the city, town and county lodges will be 
designated as wards, districts, etc., on the 
plan now in vogue, and the officers, etc., 
will be the same, or as near as it can be to 
the present system. 

When wealth is ample, the city, town and 
county councils may each in their order buy, 
build or rent a building and furnish and 
use the same as a hotel for the officers and 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY, 23 

members of their respective councils, and 
the expense to be paid by the council. Each 
council to own or control its own hotel or 
council club house. 

All help for stores, factories, etc., belong- 
ing to a city, town or county council will 
be known as trade help, and to be paid for 
as soon as service is rendered; and until 
established or self-supporting, the rent, 
help, etc., of one store, and perhaps others, 
will be paid by the national committee or 
council. 

When ready, the lodge committee or vol- 
untary work will include a state government. 
If only one lodge in a state, it can adjourn 
as a lodge and re-form again as a state 
council; and if several lodges, and all are 
small and near each other, they can all meet 
and form as a state council and be known 
as a temporary state council, with tempor- 
ary state officers, etc.; but if size of lodges, 
distance, etc., are a barrier to such forma- 
tion, then each lodge will elect one member 
to the state council, and if the lodges are 
few in number, then each will elect four 
additional members to be called the city or 
town proxies, and numbered as first proxy, 
second, etc. ; and the plan to continue until 
a state council has fifty members, w^hen with 



24 



A SCHEME 



new lodges the proxies will retire in their 
order as named until each lodge is repre- 
sented. The proxies to be retired in such 
a manner that representation will be equal- 
ized: and if there are odd proxies at any 
stage of formation, the oldest lodges to have 
them. 

The state officers will be a governor, or 
state chief, and such other officers as may 
be needed, and the term of service of each 
will be one year. 

When ready, the lodges to be arranged 
m districts, etc., as now in vogue, and the 
officers, council, etc., to be formed as near 
as possible to the present system ; and when 
che state has ample wealth, all who render, 
or are able to render, valuable assistance to 
the state to be paid for the same, in such 
sums as may be agreed upon by the state 
council. 

When wealth will justify it, the council 
may buy, build or rent a large building at 
the state capitol of the Order, and furnish 
it, as a hotel or club house for all officers 
and members of the council, and all ex- 
penses be paid by the council, and all trav- 
eling expenses be allowed each officer and 
member. 

Ml help for state stores, factories, etc., 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 25 

will be known as trade help, and will be 
paid as soon as service is rendered. 

The national council will supply all state 
councils' stores with stock it manufactures 
at cost, and the same to be " on sale " or 
to be paid for when sold ; and the national 
council, if no objection from a city, town or 
county council anywhere in the nation, may 
pay the expenses of at least one store for 
each state council until the store is self- 
supporting, or for a certain period at the 
option of the national council. 

AETICLE XV. 

Store Opening. 

The national council or the treasurer will 
pay all expenses of one or more stores be- 
longing to a city, town or county council, 
for three or six months, or longer, if neces- 
sary; and we believe one thousand dollars 
will be the average cost until each store is 
self-supporting. The New York city stores, 
on account of high rent, etc., will perhaps 
reach a higher figure. Still, they may re- 
quire a shorter time to be self-supporting. 
Rent in New York city may be two thou- 
sand a year; other cities, one to one thousand 
five hundred ; while in still other cities and 



~" A SCHEME 

towns three to six hundred will be ample, 
as our first goods will, no doubt, be the 
cheaper grades, and our stores will have to 
be located to meet that trade, and the 
higher priced stores will come later. 

When started, each store is expected to be 
self supporting in from one to six months, 
and as soon as each store is able to pay its 
own expenses, national aid to cease ; but if 
a council should err in stopping too soon 
the council can notify the national treasurer 
and draw again, and if necessary repeat 
again and again ; but if the drain should be, 
m the opinion of the president, excessive, 
the president will order an investigation, 
through the lower councils, state council or 
governor, or by a committee to be formed 
from one or more adjoining states, or the 
nation, or a special committee of his own 
selection, or order the store closed and all 
national goods held subject to his order, or 
order another location to be selected, or 
stop payments and submit all papers to the 
national council for final adjustment. 

At the start only one store opening by 
national aid will be allowed each council, 
and after each owns a store, then other 
stores will be in order for cities, towns and 
counties in proportion to population; but 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 27 

when lower councils have ample wealth of 
their own national aid will cease. 

National aid for store opening will be in 
proportion to population about as follows : 

Five to fifty thousand, one store each ; 

Fifty to one hundred thousand, two stores; 

Hundred to two hundred thousand, four 
stores ; 

Two hundred to five hundred thousand, 
six stores ; 

Five hundred thousand to one million, 
eight stores ; 

One to two million, ten stores ; 

Towns of five thousand and under will 
cover a section of from three to five miles 
square ; 

Villages and cross road stores, if in thick- 
ly settled sections, three to five miles ; but 
if only sparsely settled, five to twenty miles. 

Councils opening stores in small towns, 
villages, and at cross roads, must issue bonds 
or obtain credit if they want a general coun- 
try store at the start, or open with what the 
national council supplies, and increase to a 
general store later ; but if each council has 
two hundred members, no doubt one thou- 
sand dollars, at least, can be easily raised on 
bonds of five dollars each, and thus be able 
to commence with a general store. 



28 A SCHEME 



The bonds to bear interest, and to be 
paid in three or five years, and, if desired, 
accepted at their face value for goods pur- 
chased at the store. 

A lower council, after it is supposed to be 
self-supporting, should ask for national aid, 
any test in proof will be in order. If money, 
or its wealth in any form, has been given 
away or distributed, if recognized as a waste, 
and the council thus intentionally injured 
itself, aid may be denied ; or if any trick or 
device to evade the law in any manner what- 
soever, aid may be denied, and the presi- 
dent can refer the matter to the national 
council for settlement. 

If a lower council is impoverished by fire, 
flood or any unavoidable cause, and their 
state is unable to aid them, the national 
council will help them to build again; and 
if it is a case of food and shelter, the presi- 
dent will forward immediate relief. 

In store opening the help will be a mana- 
ger, bookkeeper, cashier and boy, with check 
system or best device to insure honesty, and 
until other help is needed, all will assist in 
m selling goods, and other help, if necessary, 
will be added daily. Many salesmen now in 
stores are employed on commission, and 
when needed the council can do the same; 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 29 

but additional help is a small matter, for if 
business will justify it, a thousand can be 
employed. 

Store expenses may be cut in several ways : 
first, by renting stores already in shape, 
with fixtures, etc., for immediate business; 
again, in large cities, gas and heat may go 
with rent ; and again, the first, second, third 
and perhaps more months may be free. 

The councils are in for business, and 
should be business people ; and when they 
buy, cut to the bottom, and when they sell, 
make a profit, and still be able to cut all 
opposition. 

When everything is ready, the national 
factory will ship the goods, and even if the 
store is two thousand miles from the factory, 
the store can be opened and doing business 
jnside of a week. 

All stores will be stocked with national 
goods as per location and demand ; and all 
stock unsaleable in one store will be re- 
shipped to another ; and payments for stock 
sold will be made monthly. All national 
stock to belong to the national council until 
sold, as a protection against errors and blun- 
ders of new beginners, and to prevent stores 
from being closed by attachments for any 
debt or debts contracted by a council. 



30 A SCHEME 

AKTICLE XVI. 

Comparisons* 

The Order's national factory will need but 
little help outside of the mechanics at the 
bench — only a few clerks and packers — and 
when the goods are finished they will be 
packed and shipped direct to the stores of 
the city and county councils. 

No other factory can work as cheaply, be- 
cause they employ, outside of the mechanics 
at the bench, a large number of traveling 
salesmen, an extra number of clerks and 
packers, attorneys, collectors, detectives, etc., 
and as soon as started, bad debts begin and 
never end. With factories working under 
the present system all of these surplus ex- 
penses and losses must be charged to the 
cost of the goods before the profits are add- 
ed ; the goods are then shipped, not to the 
retailer, but to the wholesaler or middle 
man, who in turn adds his profits before re- 
shipping to, probably, another wholesaler — > 
a process which may be rej^eated again and 
again before the goods finally reach the re- 
tailer and the consumer. 

If outside factories can be more quickly 
checked by selling at wholesale, then councils 
may wholesale, if approved by all councils. 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY, 31 

AETICLE XVII, 
Taxes and Bonds. 

The state councils, in order to carry on 
their enterprises, will tax all councils under 
them twenty-five per cent, on all their pro- 
fits, and may issue bonds for any amount 
desired, with or without interest, and circu- 
late them as money, or any lawful way de- 
sired. 

It would quicken factory work if paid out 
as wages, and be more profitable if received 
over the counter for goods bought at the 
state council's stores. 

The responsibility for all bonds to begin 
and end as they do now, with the council 
that issues them. 

The state councils may establish general 
stores at or near each of their factories or 
other enterprises, and anywhere else, if no 
objection is raised by a city or county coun- 
cil. The national council will supply the 
state councils with goods for their stores on 
the same terms and conditions as the city 
and county councils. 

The city and county councils may also 
issue bonds to any amount desired, or make 
special issues for special purposes. 



32 



A SCHEME 



If ten thousand dollars ($10,000) will 
equip a factory, with sufficient margin for 
raw material and w T ages for a certain period 
or profit point, they may issue bonds to 
that amount, and the bonds may be known 
as this or that factory's bonds, and may en- 
courage the use of the same as a circulating 
medium. In the same way the councils may 
start a dozen or more factories. If neces- 
sary, the bonds may be issued in small de- 
nominations of one dollar or less each, and 
may be received over the counter for goods 
at the council's stores. 

No doubt many members will be both 
able and willing to pay more than ten cents 
per week for dues, and with the bond issue 
all such, if necessary, can help by buying 
the bonds issued by the councils, and thus 
keej) the equality of membership and dues 
permanent. 

In accepting bonds in lieu of cash for 
goods the council may, if they see fit, regu- 
late the number or amount they will receive 
per day or week ; but if bonds are circulated 
as money, and it is desired to make them 
popular, there must be little or no restric- 
tion, and if special issues are kept within 
legitimate limits, none will be required. 

We will have two kinds of wage-workers — 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY, 33 

members and outsiders ; and if the outsiders 
should crowd us too rapidly, a special issue 
of bonds, time cards or store checks could 
be issued and be known as restricted bonds, 
time cards or store checks, and the same be 
received at the council's stores for food or 
goods, and the council to have the right to 
say at any time what per centage of such 
bonds, etc., may be received per day or week 
or month. 

After the Order is fairly started, the re- 
stricted bonds would be valuable, especially 
if times were depressed, like a panic, the 
recurrence of which the present system can- 
not prevent. "We could then employ all, or 
nearly all, who were willing to work, and 
put them to building hotels, public build- 
ings, sea shore resorts, or even large cities ; 
preparing and cultivating farms, and a hun- 
dred and one things for the comfort and 
w r ealth of the Order ; and even if such bonds 
covered many millions, it is our belief that 
the actual cost or outlay or loss to the Order 
would be little, and perhaps nothing. A 
process of getting millions of dollars worth 
of labor for a cypher, or so near it that the 
cost would not be worth counting. 

The explanation is simple when we con- 
sider that store profits run from one hun- 



34 A SCHEME 

dred to two hundred per cent., or say an 
average of one hundred and twenty-five per 
cent.; and this is what stores do to-day, that 
are assisted by their own factories and are 
able to keep, in the major part, clear of the 
middle men. 

To support our restricted bonds and keep 
them circulating, we will have the cash re- 
ceived for goods sold to cash or money 
customers, and this cash, or a certain per- 
centage of it, will be turned over and over 
again in our factories, etc., until the work 
is done and the bonds destroyed. 

The position of the wage-worker and his 
wages are quite a study, and are both hu- 
morous and tragical. He is the joker of the 
present system. Now you see it and now 
you don't. It is an old story, covered with 
the rust and dust of ages, but still fresh and 
lovely to the uninitiated. Well, let it stand 
until time, supported by intelligence, shall 
abolish it. 

Our bond issue and everything else must 
be lawful; but if others squeeze a point, 
we may, perhaps, do the same. We will 
need money, and the quickest way to satisfy 
that need is by impressions from our own 
presses. No doubt all bonds will be re- 
ceived as soon as presented. 



XU ABOLISH POVERTY. 35 

ARTICLE XVIIL 

Xodge Rooms* 

Lodge rooms fully furnished are cheap in 
all cities, and still cheaper in outside towns 
and villages, and two hundred or more mem- 
bers at three cents each will find the sum am- 
ple to pay the rent for one night in each 
week ; if not, they can pass the hat. If ex- 
tra style is desired, they can issue bonds ; 
but all such bonds must be subject to the 
approval of their respective city or county 
councils, 

ARTICLE XIX. 

Specialties and Profits. 

The national council will follow a special- 
ty until it is monopolized. The shoe trade 
seems to be the most profitable and the 
easiest worked, and, in consequence, the 
shoe industry will be the first on the list, 
and will be worked until all opposition is 
crushed. It is claimed that the profits of 
the factory and the wholesale shoe trade is 
worth a million a day ; if a half, or a quar- 
ter, or even one tenth, the Order will, no 
doubt, be satisfied One tenth means one 



36 A SCHEME 

hundred thousand dollars ($100 000) daily, 
or thirty-six millions and live hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($36,500,000) annually. It is 
claimed that the retail shoe trade is worth 
three times as much as the wholesale ; so if 
we crush the retail as well, the city and 
county councils will thereafter divide over 
one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) 
yearly. 

AKTICLE XX. 

The Present System a Shell. 

The common belief is that our present 
civilization is a strong, solid affair, and in- 
vulnerable. It may be so ; but to the writer 
it appears to be a mere shell that an ordi- 
nary punch would crush to pieces, and do it 
so quickly that its destruction would be al- 
most instantaneous ; and this being our be- 
lief, we warn the Order that even one suc- 
cess, like the monopoly of the shoe trade, 
might produce a sudden crash. If only one 
nation is covered, the knowledge might pro- 
duce a panic among the wealth holders of 
that nation, and, of course, the whole na- 
tion, and the same with each and all nations. 
The more intelligent the nation, the quicker 
the panic and the quicker finished if every- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY* 37 

thing is arranged to meet it ; and if we 
covered all the modern civilized nations, we 
would be in a position to dictate terms that 
would soon put the Order in possession of 
the rest of the earth, which would be drilled 
and disciplined to meet and appreciate the 
new life for the whole race. 

It is not the possession of millions alone 
that would crush a nation or the earth, but 
a large association with a single object, 
backed with not only millions, but in its 
line a proved success, and the three forces 
when known would paralyze everything they 
touch, here and everywhere, even to the re- 
mote shades of Africa. 

We prefer a long, steady fight in order to 
educate the masses to the newer life ; but if 
a sudden change is inevitable, we must meet 
it, and prevent the misery and terrors of a 
sudden collapse. 

We can meet it in one nation, or a dozen, 
or all nations that are fairly covered by 
councils, by the use of the restricted bonds, 
for with them we can at least prevent the 
greater misery, starvation ; and by prolong- 
ing the wage system gain time to discipline 
the ignorant and vicious to a proper sense 
of their duty to the state, nation and the 
world. 



38 A SCHEME 

ARTICLE XXL 

No Comparisons. 

Our Order's method is not to be compared 
to any manufacturing firm, company or cor- 
poration, as they now exist, even if they 
possess millions, for they one and all work 
on the same plan, and what one does all the 
rest must do. The expense of one is the 
expense of all, or nearly so, in proportion to 
size, and to live they must have a profit. 
We cut the sui^lus expenses at the start, 
and continue to do so until the end. We 
also sell at cost, but only to the Order's 
lower councils, and, if necessary, can afford 
to cut cost, and when the time is ripe it 
may be so ordered. Bad debts, with us, 
will be almost an impossibility, for the goods 
are to be " on sale," and the lower councils 
w r ill only pay cost on what are sold, virtu- 
ally taking no risk, and at no expense except 
such as the profits will be ample to meet 
and still leave a large balance in their favor. 

If a lower council stole from the Order or 
the national council it would be like stealing 
one's own goods or money; and if an indi- 
vidual member, it would, no doubt, be the 
profits, and perhaps only a small part of the 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 39 

profits, and not the principal or cost due 
the national council, and that the lodge or 
lodges or the council interested would take 
care of. 

The old story of the goose that laid the 
golden egg covers the case, and intelligence 
and common sense will protect the goose. 

AKTICLE XXII. 

New Councils. 

When farms are established, the members 
employed on a farm, if in sufficient numbers, 
and when the size of the farm will justify it, 
may, with the approval of their city or coun- 
ty council and the state council, establish a 
farm council, with all the rights and privi- 
leges ot a city or county council. 

When ready, the property to be appraised, 
and the new council to give a mortgage 
covering the amount, payable in, say, ten 
years, and to bear interest at the rate of 
three per cent, per annum. 

All state councils will be interested in the 
lower councils, and the Order as a whole is 
also interested, and when a reasonable chance 
offers they should be established, consistent 
with good judgment and equity. This to 



4:0 A SCHEME. 

apply to the outside or open country, now 
but thinly settled, as, like a farm of a few 
acres, it may be extended to cover many 
acres, and, in time, have ample room for a 
populous city or town; and if its work 
would be quickened by a council, a council 
should be established. 

If a factory is started, and its work 
should initiate directly or indirectly other 
factories, and the ground owned around and 
about them should cover enough of acres, 
and the members are sufficient in numbers, 
it might be advisable to encourage the mem- 
bers to form and establish a council, to be 
styled a factory council, with all the rights 
and privileges of a city or county council. 

The same to apply to any reasonably large 
body of members, as a community of fisher- 
men on ocean or inland shores, which, in 
time, may develop into great summer re- 
sorts or winter retreats for the comfort and 
pleasure of members of the Order. In all 
such cases the property to be appraised and 
a mortgage taken for the full amount, and 
such other conditions as the state council 
may impose. 

No separate or independent council can 
be formed in a city or town wherein an es- 
tablished council already exists ; and if jeab 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 41 

ousy or any other cause produces dissatis- 
faction, the dissatisfied, which, of course, 
must be of the minority, will have no other 
recourse but to go out into the open country 
or into the jurisdiction of some county coun- 
cil, and with the county council and the 
state council's approval, build up a city or 
town of their own. In such cases, if they 
ever should occur, the state council may in- 
tercede with the council interested to allow 
the seceeders a sum of money, or other val- 
uable consideration to enable them to begin 
their new work ; but in no case must force 
be used. 

ARTICLE XXIIL 
Wages, Dues, Citizenship, etc. 

The wage system to continue to the end, 
so far as outsiders are concerned, and no 
free or voluntary work to be encouraged; 
and when the lower councils have ample 
wealth, they each in their order may abolish 
lodge dues, and the tax per member will be 
paid by the council. 

The state councils to collect and forward 
the different sums, that is, if properly es- 
tablished and in condition to do so. The 
state councils, too, when their respective 



42 A SCHEME 

incomes amount to one million annually, 
will be taxed by the national council a per- 
centage on their income, or a smaller per- 
centage on their total wealth. 

The time to abolish membership dues will 
be left to each council, and at the proper 
time all dues and taxes will be abolished by 
the national council. "Wages will cease in 
the same manner, by the lower councils, 
then by states, and, finally, by the nation. 

When the Order is a republic, citizenship 
in the new republic will be acquired in the 
same manner as now required in the present 
republic. 

The new republic to be ushered in by 
proclamation, setting forth the day and the 
hour, and all who are not enrolled as citi- 
zens within the time named may be classed 
as foreigners. 

ARTICLE XXIV. 

Lodges and Conventions. 

Five persons over fifteen years of age, 
male or female, may organize a lodge ; but 
they cannot restrict their number to five, 
but may when they reach three hundred or 
more, and may continue a fixed number until 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 43 

vacancies occur by death or other causes, 
when the same are to be filled again. 

All lodges to possess the same rights as 
may be due each in their respective wards 
and districts, as now outlined in the present 
system or government. 

If but one lodge in a state, it will repre- 
sent the state, and will be entitled to repre- 
sentation in the national council. 

If but one lodge in a county or a district, 
it will represent the county or district in the 
Order. 

If but one lodge in a ward, it will stand 
as a ward in the Order. 

If there are two or more lodges in a dis- 
trict, they will form as one lodge in select- 
ing and electing members to a council; and 
if the lodges are too many or too far apart 
to form as one, then they will each elect 
delegates to a convention to be known as 
the district convention, and the convention 
will make the nominations, and the lodges 
will vote separately. 

If there are two or more opposition par- 
ties, each will have a district convention, 
and all tickets will be put into the field in 
the usual way. 

The lodges in a ward, if too many to form 
as one, will adopt the same plan as the 



44 A SCHEME 

district lodges, and form a convention to be 
known as the ward convention ; and if two 
or more parties, each to form a convention, 
and the final vote to be by the lodges. 

The county lodges to do the same. 

If there are two or more parties each will 
have their city convention, their county con- 
vention, their state convention and their 
national convention, or as many conventions 
as may be needed to nominate members for 
all offices that are to be filled. 

In every case where it can be done, all 
offices will be filled the same as is now done 
in the present system, and it is our aim to 
advance nothing but what the present sys- 
tem now contains, and what every intelligent 
citizen knows or ought to know as a citizen. 

AETICLE XXY. 

Farm and Factory Lodges. 

Yfhen farms, factories, etc., are estab- 
lished, the members on the farms and in the 
factories, etc , may establish lodges, and 
when established to be known as the farm 
lodge, as the factory lodge, etc. 

Five members can form a lodge, but they 
cannot stop at five, but may at three hun- 
dred or more; and when vacancies occur 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 45 

must fill them from new workers on the 
farm or in the factory, etc., and when 
formed will have all rights and privileges 
that belong to any other lodge. 

ARTICLE XXVI. 

Co-operation. 

Other nations, even if monarchies, when 
joining the Order, ought to adopt at the 
start a republic on the United States plan ; 
but if the education of the people is too 
fixed for a sudden change, then they should 
follow a simple co-operative plan, or so style 
the Order in their country or nation, as in 
many countries the Order would be forced 
to be extremely secret, and for that reason 
perhaps the plain title, as the Russian Co- 
operative Society, or some other simple title, 
would be in order where the present gov- 
ernments are opposed to innovations, and 
none but the advanced thinkers would know, 
or need know, the full object of the Order; 
and if lodges were lawful, a first or second 
degree would cover the plan, and all doubt- 
ful members could be blackballed at pleas- 
ure from entering the first or second de- 
gree, and form another degree yearly until 
protection is assured ; and the constitution 



46 A SCHEME 

could be so worded tnat none but the high- 
est degree members could hold office, and 
time and wealth will do the rest. 

The co-operative plan could also be fol- 
lowed up to the turning or dividing point, 
or even followed out, but by only dividing 
the smallest percentage of the surplus as 
possible. Our plan is in a sense co-operative ; 
in fact, we go the extreme length of co- 
operation, for we set no limit to the amount 
to be withdrawn or divided ; and if the 
members of the lodges of any council so 
desire it, they may, or a majority or two- 
thirds may, order the council to divide 
among the lodges every penny of the profits 
received from the sale of goods in the coun- 
cil's stores, and that every day, if so or- 
dered ; and if the council should refuse, the 
majority, or two-thirds, at the next election 
could elect a council with that object in 
view; but the Order is not established for 
that purpose, except when it has ample 
wealth to make all the members, as a whole, 
independent. If we divide our surplus, Ave 
but follow the present system, and we also 
weaken our strength and power, and delay, 
if not altogether })revent, the abolishment of 
poverty. 

We want the members to see this indi- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 47 

vidually, and if they do not it would be as 
well to let each council work the co-opera- 
tive plan until the members can see that 
it is neither profitable in a profit sense or 
sensible in any sense. 

A purely co-operative association is apt 
to breed jealousy, distrust, an uproar and 
an end. Even so, it is better to learn 
quickly the evils of the present system than 
not to know them. A few " wipe outs " 
may prove beneficial, and when the old is 
reorganized, its life will be quickened and 
soon regain all that was lost. When all arc 
grabbing it is difficult to detect a thief ; but 
when none grab, a theft and the thief is 
quickly detected. 

The success and the wealth of the Order 
is in the ballot ; let it remain in the ballot. 

If the ruling class of any country makes 
it dangerous to organize in any form, then 
the members of that country can join another 
nation, or even establish a national council, 
if approved, in another nation, and work and 
scheme in secret to redeem fatherland; but 
no dynamite, except quick wits and sharp 
bargains and profits by ageiis, etc., or 
otherwise all such countries will be open 
fields for the surplus stock of all organized 
councils. 



48 A SCHEME 

ARTICLE XXVII, 

Labor and Wages. 

The monopoly of labor may reduce wages, 
and the market value of one year may not 
be the market value of wages in the next ; 
but in our case what we lose in wages we 
gain in living, and as all wages are for liv- 
ing, the loss is only apparent and not real. 
To-day the vast majority live on wages that 
is a gross libel on living. "We aim to live 
like millionaires. The bank pays the mill- 
ionaire's bills, and the millionaire is indiffer- 
ent as to who carries the pocketbook as 
long as he controls the contents. Our aim 
is the same, and we, too, will be indifferent 
as to who pays the expenses as long as our 
checks or orders are honored. 

We aim to make all independent, as no 
real independence can exist with wages. 

The peculiarity of the wage system is its 
general corruption, for there is nothing pure 
in wages, and where it exists corruption 
must prevail, not in one thing, but in every- 
thing. In a wage state all live in glass 
houses. 

We aim to crush everything that stands 
in our way to success, and among other 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 49 

things will be wages, and wages will dis- 
appear as soon as wages are unnecessary, 
and that time will come, as far as the mem- 
. bers are concerned, when their wealth and 
intelligence demands it. A wealthy man 
may expend a part or the whole of his in- 
come ; but he never thinks of classifying 
himself as one of his help, and thus receive 
from himself w T ages, His wealth insures 
him all he wants, and further no wealth 
can go. Our wealth will do the same. 
Surely no man will want more; and if he 
does, what more can he have ? 

The Order can afford to pay wages in- 
definitely, and pile up wealth by it, but it 
would be foolish to continue a useless strife, 
when the strife is ended, and that will be 
made clear when the Order begins to evolve 
itself from an association to a republic, 

AETICLE XXVIII. 

Waste. 

The last thing to be crushed will be 
money, and its time will come as soon as 
it loses its value as a circulating medium. 
When no man can be hired, and no goods 
are in the market for sale, it will be worth- 
less. The last act of money, as far as any 



50 A SCHEME 

one nation is concerned, will be to settle 
accounts with all that still pursue the 
present method of barter and trade. The 
exit of money will be the beginning of the 
end of the last useless and fruitless labor 
of man. When man has all he w T ants with- 
out money, money as a medium would be 
an absurdity. 

It would' be a waste, and with the new 
order of life all w^aste must cease. 

To-day two-thirds of all labor is a waste 

a waste of labor that is not an iota of 

benefit to civilization. 

Destroy this waste and necessity, and 
common sense labor rules; abolish waste, 
and labor becomes a science, a necessity, 
and necessity levels all. 

The waste of labor under the present 
system is an evil of great magnitude, a rank 
waste of energy and life. Under a better 
civilization a large number of callings that 
now exist w T ould disappear altogether, and 
the remainder could be cut down to one- 
third, and even then we could remove every 
woman and child from the field of labor, 
and still leave more than enough to do all 
the work of the world. 

Let all do as w T e have done : study and 
figure this out and be convinced of its truth. 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY, 51 

ARTICLE XXIX. 

Drones and Vagrants. 

When labor is king, the drones and va- 
grants will be a thousand times more 
marked than ignorance and education are 
to-day, and this is sufficient to say, there 
will be none so marked. "When wealth is 
equal labor will be king. To-day caste is 
what wealth makes ; in the future caste will 
be what labor creates. To-day man's iden- 
tity is lost behind the dollar mark ; remove 
the dollar and the ideal man appears exalted 
by labor. 

ARTICLE XXX. 

Labor in the New Life. 

There are enough, and more than enough, 
between the ages of twenty and forty to do 
all the work of the world, and we figure on 
the civilized portion only; and if we make 
fifty years the limit of all labor, we would 
have a reserve of millions to draw from, if 
emergency demanded it, in the interest of 
man. 

If forty years is the limit, it would have 
to be divided about as follows: 



2 A SCHEME 

The first ten years, kindergarten school 
with workshops of all trades to suit the 
young ; 

Ten to fifteen, a common school educa- 
tion ; 

Fifteen to eighteen, college life ; 

Eighteen to twenty, trade or labor schools; 

Twenty to twenty -five, active labor in one 
or more trades, as ordered by the state ; 

Twenty-five to thirty, miscellaneous call- 
ings, or any service required on land or 
water ; 

Thirty to thirty-three, at school again for 
professional study, preparatory to entering 
a profession in the interest of the state ; 

Thirty-three to forty, teachers, scientists, 
managers, doctors, or any calling requiring 
age and experience to insure proficiency and 
success ; 

At forty, all to be retired. 

It may be found that fifteen years will 
cover all work required by a state or a na- 
tion, and the rest of life can be devoted to 
travel, or any ease or comfort that may to 
each seem fit and proper ; and all expenses 
"be paid, or everything furnished, by the 
state and nation, 

A study of a census table of a nation 
will show this ; and after a state eliminates 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY, 53 

the waste, it could not employ all, even if 
it wanted to do so, for they would crowd 
one another to such an extent that would 
virtually stall all work, and as labor-saving 
machines increase, the time as short as here 
named will be still further shortened, until 
ten years will perhaps more than cover all 
the work of man. 

ARTICLE XXXL 

Organize. 

Any male or female over fifteen can or- 
ganize a lodge at any time by simply getting 
four others, and himself or herself, and the 
four others making five, can form a lodge. 
Men and women separate, or men and wo- 
men together, and it does not matter where 
they are located, in a city or town, village 
or in the woods, near a city or populous 
centre or far away from one. 

They may live in a state or territory, or 
in Canada, or in Cuba, or in London, Paris, 
Berlin, Constantinople, Moscow, Canton or 
any part of a state or territory, or nation or 
country on the globe. 

We have no set laws or rules for a lodge. 
A lodge may consist of only a president, 
vice-president, secretary, recording secre- 



54 A SCHEME 

tary and treasurer ; or they may call their 
officers any name they please, and add to 
them other officers and name the lodge. 

The Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of 
Labor, Federation of Labor, Knights of 
Honor, Golden Circle, political clubs, debat- 
ing societies, church circles, women's clubs, 
or any other body of men or women, or 
part of any association, secret or open, or 
a single lodge, or any number of members 
of the same, may become instantaneously a 
part of our Order, and that, too, without 
changing their laws or rules that now gov- 
ern them ; or they can make an old degree 
or add a new one to cover the ground. 

Even if their lines run a little to the 
contrary of the spirit and letter of our plan, 
time, the great changer and arbiter of all 
things, will, in season, regulate each, until 
all are in harmony with each other. 

We have no secrets, except business se- 
crets, and they will be the council's secrets, 
and not necessarily the lodge's, except on 
demand, and even the councils' secrets in 
time will be common property. 

The initiation ceremony may be simply an 
introduction, paying the fee and signing the 
lodge roll; or it may be elaborate, at the 
option of the lodge. 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 55 

They may allow visitors from other lodges, 
or may exclude them. They may admit new 
members at fifteen years or more, at their 
pleasure. They can make the initiation fee 
a cypher or as large as may suit them. 
They can admit women or not admit them. 
They can draw a line on color or any tint 
or shade in the race ; but no lodge can in- 
terfere with another lodge's work. Each 
lodge can have its own passwords, signs, 
grips, etc., or they can dispense with them. 

It is not necessary to hunt up a lodge 
to join, as any five persons, male or female, 
white or colored, over fifteen years of age, 
can form a lodge, even if another exists in 
the same block or in the same building ; 
and if any disputes arise, their respective 
state, city or county councils, when formed, 
will settle them ; and after the national coun- 
cil is established it will finish what the low- 
er councils leave unfinished, even to grips, 
signs, passwords, etc., if found necessary to 
insure a more perfect organization. 

As each lodge is formed, the secretary of 
the new lodge will notify the national secre- 
tary of the Order and from time to time will 
post him of its progress, 

"When councils are formed, correspondence 
will be by councils. 



56 A SCHEME 

The state councils on all matters of state. 

The city and county councils on all mat- 
ters in which they may be interested. 

The national councils on all matters per- 
taining to the nation. 

AETICLE XXXII. 
The Quick Annihilator. 

In the present system every one must con- 
tribute towards wealth-making, if not our 
own, then it is some one's else, and with the 
great majority, it is always some one else. 

A single person will expend for outside 
clothes, underwear, shoes and a few other 
things, at least seventy-five dollars a year. 
If married, the wife and husband, even with- 
out children, will hardly get through with 
less than one hundred and fifty dollars per 
year; and if they keep house, at least five 
hundred more must be added for food, etc. ; 
and if with children, one or two more hun- 
dreds, and these will be recognized as mod- 
est estimates, as the personal and household 
expenses of many often run up to big fig- 
ures, and with almost all, their expenses 
cover all they earn : but no matter whether 
small or large it goes out to enrich specu- 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 57 

lators, and it is one of the avenues to great 
wealth to one or more of the many owners 
of stores. 

Now none can escape this drain, but we 
can change the method and make it return 
to enrich, not others, but ourselves, or the 
great majority, and by the plan finally an- 
nihilate poverty, and do it so quickly that 
as early a date as 1900 will see the beginning 
of the end of the present civilization. 

London, Paris, Berlin, New York and alL 
other large cities ought each to furnish at 
least one hundred thousand members, and if 
they do, their respective city councils could 
each issue bonds of one dollar each to the 
amount of six million dollars, and have the 
whole amount absorbed by the lodges or the 
members of the lodges attached to the 
council, 

One bond per month to each member 
would make one million two hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($1,200,000) per year; but no 
doubt the majority would take five, others 
ten, and still others fifteen, twenty, etc, ; 
but if the whole only averaged five each per 
month the total would be six million dollars 
($6,000,000) annually. 

As we have stated, we have to pay that 
sum and more now to other stores, and in 



*8 A SCHEME 

doing so we enrich others, and from them 
not a penny can be recalled. 

Our effort is to prevent this loss, and 
make our bonds the stepping-stones to quick 
wealth, not for others, but for ourselves. 

The money received from the sale of bonds 
will open mammoth stores, covering every- 
thing saleable, under one or more roofs; and 
in making purchases at the stores the bonds 
will be received the same as cash. And more, 
for the councils will favor the bondholders 
m the way of a reduction of from ten to 
fifty per cent, on all goods bought at their 
council's stores. 

If the councils only make five per cent., it 
would be still a handsome profit, for five per 
cent, on six millions is three hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($300,000). 

It would be profitable without profits for 
the first two or three years, if the councils 
undersold the opposition or their competi- 
tors for trade to that extent, for within that 
time there would be but few of the opposi- 
tion left to compete against them. 

The big stores to-day, and the smaller 
ones as well, are run largely on credit, 
and the majority, on that account, could 
not stand one year against a big cash con- 
cern working without profits; and those 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 59 

with only two or three millions of ready 
cash would vanish in three years, and a year 
or two more would finish the rest. 

The big stores, like everything else, are 
like the civilization that created them, mere 
shells, and a good punch, or several in quick 
succession, w 7 ould finish them and the re- 
sult, or at the end of a year or two our 
councils can buy their stock for a quarter or 
an eighth of their value and re-sell it at a 
handsome profit, thus showing that the loss 
of profits for a few years will lead to bigger 
profits for all future years, and continue un- 
til the entire system is wiped out. 

The same plan can be worked by all coun- 
cils, and even by councils in remote sections, 
for if with but one thousand members, they 
would no doubt average five bonds to each 
per month, making a total of sixty thousand 
dollars ($60,000) per year, which would be 
ample for at least one country store, and 
perhaps even six, and even then surpass all 
other country stores ; for many country 
stores of to-day, styled large stores, which, 
if sold at the writer's estimate, five thou- 
sand would be a big figure for any of them. 
It is said that a million dollars' w^orth of 
stock of the average store kind w r ill cover an 
acre of ground piled and stacked in factory 



60 A SCHEME 

fashion, and if so, the mammoth stores of 
to-day are not as extensive in wealth as they 
seem, and if we can raise six millions by the 
bond plan, it will be evident that we can 
open at least six stores in each large city, 
and each would be as large, if not larger 
than the largest store that exists to-day. 

If the Order reaches one hundred thou- 
sand members in each of the large cities, 
and the bond plan is successful, we will then 
handicap all opposition, for we will start 
with one hundred thousand customers, and 
no doubt another one or two hundred thou- 
sand through influence, and we will not re- 
quire a penny for advertising — a big item 
w^ith other concerns, amounting to its thou- 
sands annually. All the advertising we will 
need the members will do, and the very best 
advertising, and that is by their hundred 
thousand tongues, and all of it free. 

The national council, too, being relieved 
from store opening expenses, and from look- 
ing after the same, will be able to push many 
more enterprises of a national or world 
sense, and in other ways quicken the work, 
to the death of the present system. 

If we add groceries, meat, and a general 
food supply market, with furniture, and all 
housekeejnng stock to our great marts of 



TO ABOLISH POVERTY. 61 

trade, the councils in large cities will, no 
doubt, be able to raise twenty or thirty mill- 
ions, and to reach that sum they would only 
have to sell on an average two or three hun- 
dred dollars worth of bonds per year to each 
member, or seventeen to twenty-five dollars' 
worth monthly. 

If necessary, saloon-opening can be made 
a class question, for ten thousand members 
at one dollar each per month would enable 
the council to open at least one saloon per 
month, or twelve per year. Our saloons 
ought to be on the club house order, that 
is, they should be a whole house, and not 
simply a store ; and when business justified 
it one or more adjoining houses should be 
added. If two stores, one to be the saloon 
and one a cigar and tobacco store, both 
opening at the middle or rear end into each 
other and with the upper floors, and all fur- 
nished in harmony with their locality. 

The upper floors to be arranged for pub- 
lic meetings, debating societies, parlor, read- 
ing room, billiard room and at least one 
lodge room, and all free and open to drink- 
ers and non-drinkers alike, and as safe for a 
lady as a gentleman. The public entrance 
to be private, that is, without any opening 
into either bar room or cigar store. 



62 



A SCHEME. 



The bar room and the entrance to it should 
be neat, rich, but quiet, and not the vulgar 
glare common in the present system. And 
from the start none but the purest and best 
liquors should be sold, even if the profits 
are lowered thereby. 

The manufacture of malt or spirituous 
liquors, cigars, tobacco, etc., will in their or- 
der receive attention from the different coun- 
cils, as well as building railroads, etc.; but 
all enterprises of a bond nature as values 
drop, may be bought for a cipher, or near 
it, and many other things will come as gifts, 
or be gathered in, because worthless, or 
without value except to the state. 

In handling large sums, a bank is import- 
ant as a check, and for the better security of 
our wealth, and one should be established 
by every council whose wealth will justify 
one. 

This ends our scheme, and if you think 
well of it consider yourself duly appointed a 
committee of one, and begin to organize at 
once. 





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